SSX Ultimate: The First Season
by Shattered Shields
Summary: 17 riders. One champion. SSX is now more intense than ever, with both more media attention and money flowing into the circuit, the riders now have even more to prove, and less to lose. Come, and plunge into the maelstrom of romance, action, competition, and suspense that is SSX Ultimate. (Stays on BIG Mountain, set in SSX3)
1. Allow Me to Introduce Myself

**Hello everyone! Welcome to my remembrance of the amazing game of SSX3. Now, this isn't going to be a typical SSX fic, this is only the first season on the Big Mountain, and it won't be the last. However, all of the rookies that come in the oncoming games will be included. Also, in this season, I will include all of the characters available in SSX3 except for two, one that retires and the other is absent for the season. The pattern of absentees and retirees (don't worry that won't happen often) will happen again in later seasons. I have also set up a points system of sorts to determine who takes the championship in the end, with all that said, I own nothing but my OCs, and enjoy the story!**

**DJ Atomika, The Supercross Hall**

The crowds weren't due to arrive for another hour, and Atomika was busy putting the finishing touches on the opening. He spotted Rahzell and Ormstead, the two major directors and overseers of the entire project, occasionally, but he was putting together the music and reception.

It had been Ormstead's idea to put the SSX circuit on one mountain, to condense all of the racing action on three peaks, each with a wild and varying assortment of terrain and challenges. The recent success of the SSX circuit that had traveled all around the world had brought in both media attention and money. The organizers and heads of the circuit were determined to repeat that success.

"Mike, Mike!" Atomika called, "Put that on the other side of the room!"

This was the big introduction, the massive media spectacle that would make SSX the hottest series of events this year. All the racers, rookies and veterans both, were making an appearance tonight.

All except for two anyways, Kaori's countryman, Hiro Karamatsu, was going to be absent this year, for his own mysterious reasons. Jurgen Angermann was retiring, the injuries he had sustained the previous year had caught up with him.

However, there were still 17 elite action sports athletes vying for the crown of the SSX circuit, and they would definitely make it entertaining. The last two years of racing had created rivalries and friendships, both of which would find their way onto the slopes and create a certain amount of intrigue.

"Atomika!" It was Ormstead, "You got things ready on your end?"

The DJ turned, one of his hands still on the fat stack of records ready to go on his small table, "Yeah, we can start anytime."

"Good," The smaller, grayer man grunted. Ormstead was a retired snowboarder himself, this had been one of his lifelong dreams, to bring what he considered the greatest joy and sport on Earth onto the national level with full media attention.

"Don't sweat it Ormstead," Atomika said, "This'll go off without a hitch."

"As long as Psymon doesn't blow anything up," The director growled, his tone showing that he obviously didn't think highly of Sketchy.

"Don't worry about him, besides, he draws his own allotment of fans."

Ormstead only grunted in reply, he turned away to attend to something else, "Just be ready Atomika, we're going to be letting the crowd in soon!"

"Right," Atomika muttered, grabbing one of the records, considered it, and then placed it to the side, he would save some Royksopp for later, when they introduced the veterans and sophomores returning to the circuit.

For now, "Silver Screen" would be good for the opening of the Hall.

**Zoe Payne, The Supercross Hall**

They had seated all the competitors in a back room, where there were several small tables and fridges full of drinks. There were several screens in the room as well, so they could all watch the proceedings. Zoe was sitting beside Moby, both with cold drinks in their hand. Behind them were Kaori and Mac, to their right, was the cocky Frenchman JP, and beside him was the snowboarding whale, Luther Dwayne-Grady.

It was safe to assume that Elise was on the other side of the room, as far from Zoe the Bombshell could be.

"Well, well, they actually pulled all this rubbish off," Moby muttered, so quiet that only Zoe could hear him.

"A good idea, smart of them to put it all on one mountain, you remember all that traveling we had to do last year?" Zoe reminded him, also giving the Englishman a nudge with her elbow.

Another song kicked its way onto the speakers, "Jerk it Out" by the Caesars.

"And the tunes Atomika picked are pretty damn good," Zoe added. Moby only grunted. The roguish woman gave him an amused look. "You're still not impressed?"

Moby smirked, "Not at all, old Ormstead is going to have to put some real challenges in for me this time."

Zoe gave a bark of laughter, "You say that like you haven't been challenged at all, and don't say that, because I know that you had some trouble with Kilimanjaro last year."

"Trouble?" Moby chortled, his accent giving the word several new inflections, "What sort of trouble do you mean?"

"I mean the kind of trouble that leads to me pulling you out of a massive pile of snow."

Moby opened his mouth, and then closed it. He knew Zoe had won that little exchange. It was a couple more minutes before he spoke, "What do you think of the rookies?"

Zoe mulled over this, she had been thinking about the exact same thing, this year's set of rookies were small, only four, three guys and one girl. There was the "boy wonder" Griff Simmons, being taken onto the circuit at only 14 years of age, Viggo Rolig, the Swede who had spent all his life on snow, Nate Logan, the grizzled mountain man who definitely had the most experience of all of them. Lastly, there was the well-known hotshot, Allegra Sauvegess, who tore up the slopes with moves no one had ever seen before.

"They're… interesting, but I doubt they'll be any threat." Zoe muttered so that only Moby could hear her. She drummed her fingers on the table, "Sauvegess though, she'll be something this season I bet."

"Bollocks, she's too young to make any impression now, Logan is going to be the one who makes a mark, he has enough mountain experience." Moby argued.

Zoe shook her head, "It about who has the SSX _skills_, and Sauvegess definitely has them. Did you see her draft race in the Rockies? She cut the competition to pieces."

Again, Moby only grunted, "It was just a draft race Zoe, you can't make a solid reference from that."

Zoe made a small _pfft _sound, "You only need one look _Mr_. _Jones_," She slapped his nickname at the end of her sentence as a jab, some lighthearted teasing they both enjoyed. "Besides, you saw the tape, if you saw someone in a race, shredding it like that, wouldn't you consider them a threat?"

Moby mulled this over for a while, "Perhaps, it depends love."

She leaned forward, "Is that so? What does it depend on?"

"Well," Yet again, his accent gave such a plain word so many new textures and intricacies, "It depends on their experience, it depends on how good they are on a board. I would rest easy if I knew they were going to slip'n'slide'n'fall on the next patch of ice."

Before Zoe could prepare a response, JP called from the other table, "Hey, Zoe, having fun with your boytoy from Britain?"

This comment didn't ruffle her in the slightest, and she was ready with a countersally almost immediately.

"Yeah? What about you _Jack_?" Zoe sneered, "What about you and your beloved Titanic over there?"

Luther went flush with anger, and rose abruptly from his chair. Moby was breathless with laughter beside her, slapping his knee for exaggerated effect. When Moby recovered, they continued their conversation as if nothing had happened.

"That was beautiful love," Moby chuckled, "Couldn't have said it better me'self."

"Luther looked like he was about to combust, I think he was rather embarrassed that his little scandal with JP was revealed."

Moby chortled again, and whatever he was going to say was cut off by the abrupt announcement by Atomika that came over the intercom.

"Look sharp; you guys are getting the grand introduction in five minutes, form a line in this order!" Then he went on a long line of names, Zoe was second, Moby was third. Elise was up first, which made Zoe scowl.

Then it began, the music was turned down, Atomika called everyone's attention to where he stood at his small area. A massive screen to his left him erupted into life in a riot of blue and white letters: SSX Ultimate. "Go" began playing on the speakers.

"Hello everyone, I'm DJ Atomika, the eyes and ears of SSX for spectators and competitors alike, broadcasting live from my nifty little soundbooth with access to over 262 mountain cams." The screen behind him changed to show a massive mountain with three peaks, which increased in scale as they went, so that Peak One was very small compared to Peak Three. Words faded onto the screen: One Mountain, Three Peaks. A thread of gold flashed onto the screen and isolated the three peaks one after another, and then the images changed again to a shot panning over Metro City, R&B, and then the terrifying dives of the Intimidator. "It's taken event organizers _two years_ to turn this mountain, into the Ultimate SSX Championship." The screen flashed to a course Zoe didn't recognize, the word "race" was in the top left corner. "Riders will be charging hard down these newly designed, never before seen racetracks where the terrain borders on the _insane_. New events like Slopestyle will be pitting riders against a host of constructs, where competitors will snake the best lines through the wildest tracks to perform _legendary _tricks. Without a doubt, abilities will be pushed to the max in the Big Air events, riders will be going harder and higher than _anything_ seen before" The image snapped to the Super Pipe, the event that Zoe had been anticipating more than anything else. "This year's one of a kind Super Pipe will be like no other, riders are going to have to throw it up huge to win these babies." Atomika paused, and behind him, the major highlights, both from the rookies draft races and the preseason rides of the veterans, now played across the screen. There were audible cheers from the crowd whenever they saw one of their favorites.

A staff member, one of the Ski Patrol, looking official and important with a clipboard in his hand, came in from the stage. He looked slightly put off by the fact that they were in a formation that didn't even faintly resemble a line, but he shrugged and stood by the door to the stage. He beckoned to Elise, obviously meaning for her to be closer to the door when her name was called. The Bombshell arched a perfect eyebrow, but moved over to the door anyway.

"Now, it's time to introduce all of you to the riders vying for the SSX crown." Atomika announced as the crowd went ballistic. Royksopp's "Poor Leno" thrummed it's chorus through the speakers.

"Amazon Bombshell Elise Riggs-" He got no further, for Elise was already halfway across the stage and the crowd had exploded into cheers.

"Crowd favorite, Zoe Payne." Zoe, naturally, did her signature back-flip out of the doorway and onto the stage, with elicited a roar from the masses.

"The one and only Moby Jones." Another roar.

"The "Tricky" Nishidake." Kaori burst onto the stage, all smiles and cheerful waving. Zoe couldn't help but grin.

"Hype-man Mac Frasier." Mac popped from the back room, doing some absurd DJ routine.

"Psymon Stark, the-" Again, Atomika didn't make it any further. Psymon had already flown to the stage, screaming gibberish about his tattoo.

The DJ continued to introduce the rest of the veterans in this manner, with varying levels of enthusiasm from the crowd. They flipped out when Seeiah emerged, but Luther received a nearly silent welcome.

Atomika made a show of pausing, so that the audience was quiet when he spoke again, "And now, it's time to introduce the new riders coming to the circuit."

Now _that _certainly got a reaction, the crowd howled, and Overseer's "Screw up" began blasting its heavy industrial notes through the speakers as Atomika called the first name.

"Boy Wonder Griff Simmons!" Griff exited the small room all the rookies had been in and came walking down what could easily be considered a runway that led all the way up to the stage. He appeared to be simply stunned with all the noise he had evoked.

Zoe snorted; apparently, they wanted to show the rookies off.

"Style-meister Viggo Rolig." There was an alarming uproar of shrieks and screeches from a massive amount of teenage girls that crowded the line the audience couldn't cross, and they leaned over it desperately, reaching to touch Viggo as if he was the Messiah reborn. Viggo ate it up, giving the girls plenty of high fives and dainty kisses on the hand.

It made Zoe feel ill.

"Mountain man Nate Logan." This time, the noise came from a mixture of both squealing women and, what seemed like, massively enraged mountain men, or rather, ones that were feeling exuberant with so much alcohol in their veins. Nate looked as if he didn't hear them; he merely kept walking, looking exceptionally calm.

"And the _uber-talented_ Allegra Sauvegess." If Zoe had thought the other rookies had gotten a good amount of noise, then the applause Allegra received blew the roof off the Hall. She soaked it all up, grinning cockily, and walking surely, her hands half-tucked into her pockets. Zoe noted that it was, interestingly enough, it was mostly women, young and old, and younger guys. She had heard about how Sauvegess was apparently the ultimate boarding "Betty", but she had never even considered that a rookie would have such an immediate and exuberant fan base.

The rookies took position in a small line next to the mass of veterans, who eyed the rooks warily, and the new riders returned the favor.

It looked like the first impressions were already underway. Zoe was staring hard at Allegra, who, to her credit, met her intense gaze with a cool confidence that seemed uncrackable.

**Allegra, The Supercross Hall**

Finally, it seemed they would never get out of that tiny room, where she had to endure Grommet's incessant ramblings, a side effect of the wracking nerves they were all suffering from.

The draft process had been stressful enough, all the races, all the waiting, even after her telling performance at Rabbit Run out West, she had to wait a full month before they decided to ultimately bring onto the SSX circuit. Then there was the preseason with all of the media attention that had been held back for the Draft, those pesky people in black with their cameras close behind, shoving a microphone in your face.

Of course, Allegra had responded in her normal way, with ironclad surety and confidence bordering on arrogance. However, the nerves were still there, tying themselves into knots in her stomach. She had the skills to back up her talk, but nerves went hand in hand with fear, and those nagging internal questions of "What if…?".

And now, here she stood, on the stage to the biggest snowboarding circuit in the world, having a staring contest with the legendary Zoe Payne. The other woman was even more intimidating in person.

Not like Allegra cared, no one was going to scare her.

Atomika said something else, but she wasn't listening, then Zoe looked past Allegra, towards the door the veterans had all came out from, and the spell was broken.

Viggo tugged on her arm. "Come on, we're going back into the back."

Allegra smirked, "Nicely said, _scanner_." The nickname was an added jab.

It didn't affect Viggo in the slightest, "That I am," He boasted, "I can't help that women are unable to resist."

"Yeah, I couldn't help but notice, but be careful Viggo, one slipup on the mountain and no girl will ever scream for you again…" Allegra taunted, elbowing him in the side.

"Ah, shut up Big Al."

"You know, I think I prefer the nickname: 'Champion'." Allegra laughed as they entered the back room. She halted almost immediately, since the Veterans had all formed a wall before the rookies, and were surveying them with unnerving interest.

There was immediate tension, promptly broken by some tribal roar from Psymon, and Mac's greeting of: "What's up dawg?"

Then they were swarmed, the veterans moving forward to introduce themselves. Allegra found herself getting the full attention of Tricky Nishidake and Mac, which was a flurry of Japanese and Mac's incomprehensible slang. Then Marisol chirped a greeting in passing, and Luther lumbered by and gave her a hello.

She turned, and suddenly Elise was there, with Eddie by her side. Allegra felt her aggression rise as the Bombshell looked down on her contemptuously; poor Eddie looked uncomfortable in the extreme, like he expected to have to break up a fight.

"Sauvegess." Elise said her name like a curse, "I hope you didn't think you would win this season."

Allegra grinned, "I had to beat plenty of little girls to get on the circuit, Riggs. What makes you think you can win against me?"

She became aware that everyone was becoming quieter, watching the hostility. Allegra thought she saw money change hands out of the corner of her eye.

Elise's eyes narrowed, "You think you're better? That's hilarious."

Allegra pushed out her bottom lip in a fake pout, "Aw, did I piss off the princess?"

There was a loud bark of laughter from Payne.

"The Queen actually." Elise replied, her words like ice.

"Queen of what? Looking pretty? Having perfect nails? That won't help you win." Allegra smirked.

"Funny you would mention the two things you cannot do." Elise replied smoothly, smiling coldly.

Now _that _stung, Allegra's hands balled into fists, and Elise spoke again before she could reply, "Aw, I didn't make you mad, did I?" Her voice dripped with false sympathy.

"So how'd you win before? Sleep with the race organizers?" Allegra spat.

Elise pursed her lips, "No, I would never steal your style Sauvegess."

"My _style_, is slamming your face into the snow and winning." She snarled, taking a small step forward.

"Why wait for the snow? Why not do it now?" Elise goaded, also taking a step forward.

Allegra was about to reply, but then Viggo had her arms by the elbow in a tight hold, Moby, with Nate beside him, forced their way in between the two women. "Now let's not get too hasty here." Moby said as he looked from Elise to Allegra. The young American yanked her arms out of Viggo's grip and stalked over to a table in the corner, fuming.

She _hated _that witch, had hated her as soon as she saw the profiles of all the racers during the Draft, she hated the Bombshell's pretentiousness, her arrogance. The Canadian had reminded Allegra of so many other high-minded girls she had surpassed and tolerated throughout her 18 years. Elise was her antonym, the one that clashed and grated with her own tomboyish attitude.

Viggo sat down beside her, "She wasn't right you know, you're, probably, the hottest girl I know-"

She cut him off with a loud scoff. "I know my looks aren't a problem, it's just that she just-" She slammed a fist onto the table. "_gets _to me, I can't stay in the same room with her without becoming furious."

"Don't worry about it rookie, that's a usual symptom of being in a room with Elise Riggs." Zoe Payne had slid into the chair across from Allegra, with Moby right beside her. "Though I must admit, I've never seen anyone get under her skin that fast."

Allegra paused, Zoe was grinning like a madwoman, and amusement was dancing in her brown eyes. "I, uh, well, I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or not…"

Zoe made a small, neutral, gesture, "Take it as a compliment, or not, I don't care."

"Is this is a 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' sort of thing?"

"Exactly love." Moby chortled. "Hit it right on the head you have."

Zoe shrugged, "I can give you a few tips and tricks when we hit the slopes on Friday. We're rooming together at the ground lodge anyways."

Allegra raised her eyebrows, "Really?"

"Yeah, the organizers like to put a veteran and rookie together, guess they figure the older will rub off on the younger."

Viggo cleared his throat. "Whom am I rooming with?"

Zoe only shrugged. "How I am supposed to know?"

Moby screwed up his face in concentration. "Last time I checked, I think you were rooming with the mountain man."

Viggo frowned, "But he's a rookie, just like me."

Allegra rolled her eyes, "You forget, apparently the guy has been on mountains all his life."

"So have I!"

Allegra snorted, "No, you've been on top of women more than mountains, _Scanner_."

Viggo cracked up, but Zoe and Moby watched impassively, both looking rather confused.

This was going to be a riot.


	2. Fun, Games, and Guidelines

**First of all, I'm both surprised, and very thankful for the positive reaction I received when I posted this. Secondly, I apologize for the wait of ten days or so, I got a bit stuck on this chapter. Right now, I only have one request: Reviews. I don't care if you hate or love it. If you feel strongly about this story, then I implore you to give me feedback on why.**

**The Groundside Lodge**

They had decided to give all the riders one day at the foot of the mountain, to prepare and achieve mental and emotional balance.

At least, that had been the way that Ormstead had described it. Atomika, on the other hand, merely saw it as a way to relax before they hit the slopes. Of course, there was also the fact that many of the riders would be more relaxed on the slopes rather than the foot of the mountain. Psymon was notable in this respect.

Hence the reason they were only staying for a day.

All of them relaxed in their respective ways, Brodi would be meditating on a snowdrift somewhere, Mac would either be with Kaori or be doing something stupid, Zoe and Moby would be biking on the ice or doing something else. Luther would probably be eating the fridge; Elise could be doing anything, from meeting sponsors to flirting with the other boarders.

Or, they could all be pranking each other and making mayhem in the lodge.

**Allegra**

"C'mere Allegra!" Psymon bellowed from somewhere behind her.

"No way!" She shouted back, jumping a sofa, then a chair, trying to escape Psymon and his damn water gun. Mind you, this was no little water pistol. No, somehow, Psymon had managed to obtain a massive supersoaker that held at least two gallons of water. He had filled it to the brim with ice water, and then went on a rampage. Poor Viggo was back in the second floor common room, soaked and shivering, Griff had also gotten doused, and now she was Psymon's next target.

A blast of water slammed into the floor right by her bare feet, and she heard a loud cackle as she dashed up the stairs to the next floor. Allegra nearly ran into Kaori and Mac on the way up.

"Run!" She gasped, "Psymon has a water gun!"

"C'mere Allegra! Mr. Tattoo has a surprise for you!" Came the shout from further down the steps.

That was enough persuasion for the both of them; they were right behind Allegra when she reached the top of the stairs. From here, it was another massive common room, two hallways that led to more rooms and another hallway that looped back around to the common room, and the other stairwell that led back to the second floor.

Kaori said something in Japanese, and Mac translated. "Split up!"

Split up? That was a terrible idea!

But Mac and Nishidake were already sprinting towards the other stairwell, probably planning to loop around and get back outside to escape the chaos. That only left her one option, the hallways.

Unfortunately, she was only halfway when Psymon got to the top of the stairs.

"Come and get your penance sausagegess!"

Another blast of water flew over her head, and smote the wall. Allegra reached the welcoming dimness of the hallway, but she ran into an obstacle.

It was JP, that annoying Frenchman. She tried to juke by him, but he grabbed her by the shoulders. "Hey, Sketchy, I caught one for you!" JP laughed.

What an ass, Allegra jerked away with sudden strength that seemed to take JP by surprise, and for his trouble he was nailed by the gouts of water Psymon fired at her.

Allegra kept sprinting; maybe Psymon would run out of ammo soon. There were screeches of dismay from JP, and she could hear Luther shouting as well, along with Sketchy's hysterical laughter. Two more people down on the maniac's list.

Allegra came out into the common room again, she ran to the stairwell and hustled back down to the second floor with Sketchy behind her.

There was no sign of Viggo and Griff once she got back down, but there was Moby and Zoe standing in the center of the room.

Remembering something Kaori had said, about how Zoe was the only one capable of controlling Psymon, Allegra sprinted forward and dove behind the couch nearest to Zoe. Payne looked at her, bemused. Moby chuckled, and muttered something Allegra didn't catch.

Psymon came hurtling down the stairs, and he spotted Allegra when she peeked over the couch. Throwing caution to the wind, she got right behind Zoe, watching Psymon from over her shoulder. Stark hesitated when he saw Zoe, but he still raised his supersoaker.

"Don't you dare, I'll throw you out the damn window if you spray me with that thing." Zoe said lightly.

Psymon assumed the stance like to that of a pleading puppy. "Then move?"

Zoe stepped aside, Allegra yelped and dove behind the couch again. How could Zoe do that?

She could hear Psymon coming closer, cackling. "C'mere Alle-ACK!"

Moby was laughing again, and she saw why. The Englishman had his own weapons. Snowballs, and he had just nailed Psymon right in the face, coating the entirety of it in fine white powder. Moby walked forward quickly, ducking a poorly aimed blast of water, and then went calmly through the open door on the other side of the room that led outside. Psymon wiped the snow from his face, and with his supersoaker raised, he went after Moby, who threw two more snowballs and then darted out of sight.

Allegra picked herself up off the floor, and shot Zoe a look. "Why did you move?"

She shrugged. "To give Moby a clear shot, and I didn't want to get wet."

"Is he going to be alright?"

"Moby? He'll be fine, he can handle Psymon."

Allegra flopped onto the couch, a bit winded after Psymon's persistent pursuit.

"Is Psymon always like that?" Allegra asked, wiping a hand across her brow.

Zoe laughed. "Yeah, there was this one day that he tried to jump power lines on his bike, and Sketchy was born."

There was movement behind her, and Allegra nearly fell off the couch trying to see who it was.

It was Viggo, he looked rather grumpy, probably a side effect of being blasted with icy water. "Is he gone?"

"Yeah, he's gone." She replied, flopping back onto the couch.

"Everyone's heading to Hullard's at about 8 or something like that." Viggo said as he squinted at the clock. "And it's already 6."

Hullard's was the biggest restaurant on BIG Mountain, and apparently, reservations had already been made for the boarders.

"Perfect, that gives me plenty of time for the prank I want to pull on Elise." Zoe snickered, rubbing her hands together in glee.

Allegra perked up immediately. "Count me in."

**Mac, Hullard's**

Mac had no idea who had been the one to throw a small firecracker onto Elise while she was taking a shower, but the Bombshell had been PO'd in the extreme. She kept shooting razor-sharp stares at Allegra, Zoe, and Marisol, figuring that it had to be one of her enemies that would do something so heinous.

Mac couldn't care less. It was interesting certainly, but with Kaori sitting in front of him, he found it hard to focus on anything but her. They sat at a table alone, the rest of the boarders were scattered about the restaurant, talking amongst themselves. Mac flagged down a waitress and asked her for a refill, handing her his cup.

This was going to be a big year. Last year had been quieter, they had felt more… anonymous, more closed off to the outside world while they were touring.

But now? Hell, Mac had already gotten sponsorship offers from Coca-Cola, Red Bull, and Lib Tech, all asking him to support their products. Kaori, he knew, had been absolutely swamped with offers from a vast myriad of Japanese companies; she had accepted the majority of the offers, so she was going to look like a walking advertisement out on the slopes.

Kaori grinned at him, her brown eyes sparkling, she shot a question in Japanese at him.

Mac had made a great effort to learn as much Japanese as he could during the last few months, and Kaori had done the same with her English. He replied to her mischievous remark about Psymon with a dry comment about Sketchy compensating for something with the size of his supersoaker.

Kaori laughed, making Mac's heart go _ka-bump_. "What have you say to Coke's offer?" She had her own little speaking style when she spoke English.

"Nothin' yet, though I am looking friendly at Lib Tech, I wouldn't mind using one of their boards for free." He said, drumming his fingers on the table.

Kaori was about to reply, but then a large party of people barged in through the front door, and that drew everyone's attention.

In the lead was Ormstead with Rahzell and Atomika by his side. Behind them, was a group of five; they were old and gray, looking tired and worn.

Mac would bet his headphones that they were snowboarding veterans. They didn't look ancient, if he had to guess, he would guess they were in their 40s or 50s. But they all showed signs of prior injury, one had a slight limp, another had a crooked nose.

Dead silence now settled over the riders, except for Moby, who called. "Hey, Ormstead, what the bloody hell is this about?"

"I'll tell you in a second." Ormstead replied as he reached the other side of the room and turned to face the riders. He cleared his throat, and removed a folded sheaf of papers from the pocket of his jacket. "Alright, I'm going to tell all of you how we are going to decide who wins this year."

This was met with an outpour of noise. "You're telling us this _now_?" Zoe could be heard over the hubbub.

Ormstead rubbed his forehead, looking tired. "Yes, Zoe, we're telling you now, and I promise this won't take long."

"That's what she said!" Psymon hooted.

Ormstead said nothing, only glaring at Sketchy. He dropped his gaze to his papers. "We are going to go by points."

Another smattering of conversation, "This isn't football Orms!" Moby called.

"It won't be like football Moby! It'll be more like… I dunno, NASCAR!"

"What the bloody hell is that?"

"It's a bunch of cars driving in a circle, really fast." Allegra replied, looking bored.

Moby looked as if someone had told him it was 5 men hopping on pogo sticks. "What's the point of that then?"

"Hey!" Ormstead bellowed, cutting everyone off. "Can we get this over with so I can go rest?"

"Sure Orms, wouldn't want you to miss your beauty sleep." Zoe catcalled.

He ignored her. "Okay, when I said we were doing this on points, I meant that you lot are meant to earn points by winning events, like the super pipes, and whoever has the most points by the end of the entire tournament, wins the SSX Championship."

You could hear a pin drop in the restaurant now.

Ormstead looked much more "on" now that he had everyone's attention. "We are going up and down this mountain twice, so you're going to be doing every event twice this season. On every peak, there is one Big Air, Slopestyle, and Super Pipe event. With races, its more complicated, we have 3 on Peak One, 2 on Peak Two, and 2 on Peak Three."

Mac wasn't sure that he heard right. There was only 2 races on the first peak, and 1 on the third.

Ormstead held up a hand to stem the muttering. "Yes, I know, you guys were told differently, but the two new races we have were just finished. Honestly, I didn't think they would be completed in time, which is why you all didn't know."

"What's their name?" Brodi asked.

"Well, we got Braveheart on Peak Three, and the other on Peak One is still unnamed, so if you guys have any suggestions, drop them by me, pronto."

Mac was nodding, Braveheart eh? It couldn't be _that _bad.

"Alright, now about some general guidelines and things you need to know, you'll have the smaller details in a small book we'll give you, but I'll cover the big stuff right now. As for behavior on BIG Mountain, just do me a favor guys, and try not to blow anything up."

They all cracked a smile at this.

"Tomorrow, all of you will be taken by Osprey to the top of Peak One, and from there, I don't give a rat's ass what you guys do, as long as you _do not leave the Mountain_. If at any time you leave BIG Mountain without gaining our approval first, we will assume that you have ditched the tournament, and you will be Disqualified. Aside from that rule, I really don't care what you do. If we're on Peak Three and you want to freeride in Metro City, then feel free. But keep in mind, we don't wait for you. If the whole tournament is at Ruthless Ridge while you're cutting through Snow Jam, we will race without you." Ormstead cleared his throat. "The span of time between events will be three to five days apart, which gives all of you plenty of time to freeride, talk to sponsors, practice, check out the course, do whatever."

"Hold on, so, if I'm racing on Snow Jam in two days, that means I would be able to ride that course before we race on it?" Nate said, cutting through the silence.

Ormstead nodded. "Feel free, I'm not your mother. Do with that time as you see fit."

Nate nodded, now seemingly deep in thought.

"What about the points?" Marisol asked from where she sat with Seeiah.

"I was getting to that." Ormstead replied. "First, we go over how these the events are set up, for the Super Pipes, Big Airs, and Slopestyles, we got three rounds of you guys putting up as many narly tricks as you can to take the lead and hold it. For races, we got our own little tourney." Ormstead withdrew a paper from his stack, and studied it. "The quarterfinals, there's two races of 6 boarders, one race of 5, the top 4 riders from each race will move on to the semifinals." Ormstead looked up to make sure no one was confused. "In the semifinals, we will have two races of 6 boarders, and the top three riders from each race move on to the finals. You win that race, and you win the whole event. You guys got all that?"

Mac had barely been listening, but he nodded with the others anyways.

"For points in terms of Super Pipes, Slopestyle, and Big Air, first place gets 35 points, second gets 30, third gets 25, fourth gets 20, and fifth gets 15. The next five each get 10 points each. The next seven get nothing."

This was met with an understanding silence. The message was simple: turn up to compete, or come away with nothing.

"For Racing events, the winner gets 35, the runner-up, 30, third, 25, fourth, 20, fifth, 15, and sixth, 10. The six boarders that went to the semi-finals but did not progress to the finals, will get 5 points each. The five boarders that did not make it to the semis will obtain no points."

"What about the Big Challenges?" Elise asked with her normal amount of suave.

Ormstead only grunted. "Those are sponsored, meaning they are up for grabs for anyone who makes it worth their while to fulfill them."

"Hold up." Mac called. "So, we do these challenges, and some big corp is just going to give us money?"

Ormstead nodded. "That's the gist of it. Of course, before you even attempt one, you have to put in a MComm text to one of our lovely agents." The people behind him grinned. "And they will let the sponsor know you're taking a shot at the challenge."

"Another question, this one is with Atomika's cams and the big media being here and all, we have any privacy on BIG Mountain?" Eddie asked.

He didn't ask that for him, it was a topic they were all concerned with. Sure, airtime was nice, but none of them wanted media intrusion to disrupt their peace on the slopes.

Atomika stepped forward. "Eddie, half the reason those cameras are there is so that we know where you guys are if you hit your head on a rock or break your leg. We don't want any boarders dying on BIG Mountain. I'd also like to add, none of my cams are inside any of the lodges."

Ormstead put his hand on his hips. "I want to be clear on this, so none of you will have to ask that question again. We may have more money flowing into this circuit, and we may have more big names knocking to slap logos on all of you, but _riders come first_." He growled, looking over all of them a bit protectively. "If media folks overstep their bounds, come find me, I'll them to back off, and if they do it again, I'll throw them off the damn mountain. Same deal with sponsors, I don't care if I do that with the reps from McDonalds and they pull their money elsewhere, your safety and security comes first over the corporations and their money."

This little speech made them all smile. Ormstead could be a bit pompous, he could be overzealous, annoying, and downright infuriating at times, but he loved snowboarding, SSX, and he cared fiercely about their welfare, he knew what it was like being a famous snowboarder, and he was determined that the unfortunate things that happened to him, would not happen to Mac or his fellow SSX boarders.

Which was why they, grudgingly, both liked and respected him. It was also why they had voted him in as director.

"All right then, with that, I bid you all a good night." Ormstead boomed as he started walking, a bit unsteadily, evidently, he was more tired than he had let on.

Mac turned his full attention back to Kaori as Ormstead and his small posse left. "So, what were we talking about?"

**Okay, guys, I'm gonna need your help with naming that unnamed racecourse on Peak 1, I just couldn't think of a name that felt right. Speaking of the added stuff, don't worry, the events and locations that are in the game, will not change or be removed in this story, and the only reason I added content was to give the competitors more opportunities for points. And speaking of that, if you are still confused about how the points or anything else work, either PM me or leave a review.**


	3. The Backcountry and the Court

**First off, I apologize for the delay, I was distracted by outside factors. I'm still wanting for name suggestions guys. Come on, give me something! Read and enjoy!**

**The Rookies, Happiness, Peak One.**

Griff was pacing impatiently on the Osprey, Allegra was more jittery than usual, both her knees bouncing. Nate was impassive, staring out of the window, Viggo, on the other hand, kept a rushed conversation with Allegra. He was shaking as much as she was.

"Get ready, drop zone is coming up in 30 seconds!" The copilot shouted over the sound of the rotors.

Allegra slid her other boot into the bindings of her new board, courtesy of her latest sponsorship deal with DC. Viggo slid his feet onto the board that had been custom made for him in Sweden, Nate had cinched a generous deal with some big western company by the name of Tomp. Griff had made a good deal with GNU, getting him a new board and bindings.

They felt the bird do an abrupt turnaround, and then the ramp at the rear end of the Osprey lowered, letting in the cold. Griff shuffled forwards, shaking with excitement. Beyond him, Allegra could see the fluffy whiteness of the slopes.

The jump light went green, and Griff howled as he leapt onto BIG Mountain. Nate was right behind him, silently landing on the slope. Viggo was next, his trembling abated, his nervousness was gone.

There was a small _poomf _as her board hit the snow, the rotorwash beat against her back as the Osprey pealed away. The wind blew her single braid back, and then it settled gently. The slope stretched out like a curving cloud, glittering invitingly. Here and there, there were stabs of rock that seemed to erupt from the snow, the trees were slightly bent, and frosted over with ice, so that they too, shimmered beautifully.

"Allegra!" Viggo shouted, throwing a snowball at her to grab her attention. "Are you gonna ride it or stare all day?"

Nate and Griff had already disappeared. She could see their tracks in the snow.

"Isn't that your boyfriend's favorite line?" Allegra replied, grinning. She got another big snowball thrown at her.

"Shut up." Viggo said, scowling.

Her smile faded. "Vig, I didn't mean-"

"Forget about it." He said, brushing her off, "Let's just start boarding."

They both relaxed as they settled into the familiar boarding styles they had possessed for years. Soon, Allegra got restless, and started pulling tricks and grinding on the trees. Not about to be left out, Viggo pulled off a few himself. It heated up, both of them taking their feet off their boards.

Then Viggo pulled off a wicked trick that Allegra knew she couldn't match, and she gave him applause as he landed. He gave her a smile that looked more like a scowl.

Allegra felt another stab of guilt for the gay reference. She knew he wasn't, he definitely knew he wasn't, but the jokes and the backtalk still stung him bad. Viggo had tried to hide it when they first met, using his self-deprecating humor and confidence to project a hologram of sorts, hiding his bitterness. Allegra saw through it though. It reminded her of herself when she was younger, when insecurities haunted her steps.

But now, she was skilled, hot, and kicking ass.

The same could not be said for Viggo. He was still slightly built, and his style didn't help him either. She knew that one easy way to attack a man was insult his masculinity, and calling him gay was one easy way to do that. More than that, it was his own voices that crippled him, his nagging doubts that shackled his stride.

Allegra felt for him, but the only one that could drag himself out of his funk was him.

**Ormstead, The Court.**

His head was pounding, both with irritation and pain.

The murmuring of the crowd behind him buzzed around his ears like so many mosquitoes. Nearly the entire mountain had turned out to watch the proceedings.

The SSX circuit was at stake.

"Gregory Ormstead, you are being held in a lawsuit by the ASA, by violating the agreement you signed with them on December 17th, 2007." The judge sounded tired.

He leaned forward, resting his arms on the rich wood of the small table. "Do you mean the agreement I terminated half a year later?"

The Judge frowned, and stared daggers at the reps from ASA sitting across the room from Ormstead. "Is this true, Mr. Mulhaven?"

The ASA men remained silent. Their lawyer spoke for them. "This claim is false, Mr. Ormstead tried to terminate the agreement by shouting obscenities at my clients over the phone, but it was never terminated on paper."

"It was, I sent the termination papers to you. They've probably already been run through a paper shredder and dumped into a trashcan. Thankfully-" His hand closed on a sheaf of papers. "- I made a copy."

Across the small courtroom, the ASA boys looked like they had all swallowed largemouth bass.

The sheaf of papers was given to the judge, and he studied them with a sharp eye. When he finished reading, he glowered at the men who had gone after Ormstead with a lawsuit. "Mr. Mulhaven, do you have any explanation for this excellent document?"

The shark stood, his shock of grey hair poorly smoothed back. "This document was never seen by me, nor by any of my employees. Mr. Ormstead is a thief-"

The buzzing of the crowd turned into a slow roar. The judge banged his gavel until it cracked. The quiet returned.

"I will not have low-born insults in my court. You present your evidence, Mr. Mulhaven, or you keep your mouth shut."

Mulhaven went red with either embarrassment or rage. Ormstead could not tell. His lawyer passed another set of papers up to the judge.

"The hell is this?" The judge growled.

"Those are our financial reports of our payments to the dependencies we loan money to. As you can see, our monthly loans to Mr. Ormstead never stopped taking money from our hands."

Parker looked hard at the papers, then looked at Ormstead, then looked at Mulhaven. "So you sent him money, that proves nothing."

The other man looked distraught. "Good judge, we only give money to men still in line with our agreement."

"Where is the proof that Mr. Ormstead broke with this agreement? You still have yet to disprove his claim. According to Mr. Ormstead, he was well within his bounds, according to the agreement, to break off to form SSX."

Mulhaven hissed like a scolded cat. "Using _our _money, using _our _ideas."

"I paid you back, every cent you gave me I gave back. You just want a cut of something that you think should've been yours." Ormstead shot back. He looked back up at Judge Parker. "Sir, I used ASA's money to give SSX a kickstart, once I gained enough money, I paid off every loan, and broke the agreement, as I was able to. ASA's _sharecropping_ agreement-"

"Objection!" Mulhaven boomed.

The judge ignored him.

"-only enabled them to get a major cut of the profits from my merchandising and small supply business. Both of which I closed down legally. The agreement said _nothing _on sporting associations."

"We revised our agreement."

"Also prohibited by the legal document, besides, I terminated it before you could change it anyways."

Parker glared at the ASA table. "Any further statements from the plaintiff?"

They said nothing.

"Gentlemen, I don't even know why I let you into this courtroom. You have provided almost no evidence, and have done nothing but accuse Mr. Ormstead of both violating your agreement, and stealing your ideas for a "Snowboarding Superpark". The agreement, as I have seen, was ended over two years ago. As for your superpark. I do not recall you coming to this mountain to hash out the hard details of the SSX agreement in my court. I do not recall you laying down the money to build the tracks that now snake across my mountain. And I sure as hell don't recall you bringing in so much wealth and commerce into my town." The judge stood shakily. "This court is adjourned, Mr. Mulhaven, you lost, get off my mountain."

The crowd clapped and roared, this time, Judge Parker did not bother to settle them. The accusers slumped down the aisle and threw the doors open violently, retreating to their black sedans.

Ormstead rose heavily, wondering how he didn't just collapse at this rate. He approached the judge's stand a bit unsteadily.

Parker was sitting down again in his chair. "They're not going to leave you alone Greg."

Orms sighed. "I know, they didn't care much in the first two years, when I was taking my circuit all over the world. They didn't care when the Tricky craze was sweeping people off their feet. They only care when I settle down, when I finally make this thing big."

Parker laughed dryly. "You just said it, when you were traveling, they were just hoping you would get lost in a snowstorm and never emerge. But now, you've put down roots. You're dangerous Greg. You'll be changing the world now."


	4. Snow Jammin, Part One

**First off guys, I am so very sorry for the delay. I lost track of time, and had a few busy weeks. Next chapter will be up within the next week. Leave a review, I need/want your feedback. Constructive criticism is always welcome. **

**Green Station, Nate Logan**

"So he passed then?"

Eddie reclined, "Yeah, the ASA is outta here now."

Elise exhaled heavily. "Thank God. I hate those people. I'm so glad he ditched them before he started the circuit."

"Yeah, those a-holes would've fired half of us, and turned the circuit into a circus." Zoe growled.

"Why didn't he tell us they were even here, we have a right to know." Moby protested.

"Yeah? If he had told us they were on the mountain, I would've gone after them with an axe." Zoe replied, her hands balled into fists.

"And I a gun." Elise added, her voice very cold.

Nate and the rest of the rookies watched in disbelief. Elise and Zoe were _agreeing _on something? How bad were these ASA guys anyways?

They were all gathered in the main room of the green lodge, one of Ormy's agents had just told them the news about ASA's attempted lawsuit. The reaction from the veterans had been very intense. There had been a lot of swearing and angry faces. Even Mac, usually so easygoing, was obviously PO'd in the extreme. Kaori was still furiously muttering in Japanese under her breath. Arsenault was doing the same in his native French. Psymon's reaction had been the most unnerving. He had gone very quiet when the news had been told, and he had still said nothing, he only stared at the wall, his mood remaining in doubt.

The rooks had huddled together in the corner of the room, too thoroughly alarmed by their competitor's reactions to approach or say a word.

Kaori spoke up, her English broken with anger. "They should be banned from mountain! Why should they be-" She fumbled, obviously not knowing the next word to say, her fury stealing away her good memory. She snapped out a few choice words in Japanese, and Mac slung his arm about her shoulders.

"Kaori's right, they should be banned, nobody wants them on BIG Mountain anyways." Seeiah said, scowling.

"I'm sure Ormstead will have them banned soon." Eddie said, though he didn't sound confident.

"He'll have to catch 'em doing something bugger awful to get them off the mountain." Moby interjected.

"Or _we _can catch them in the act." Zoe replied, her eyes narrowing. "They're going to try the same tricks they did last year. Only it's going to be worse this time."

"Hey," Allegra ventured, her voice cutting through the thick tension. The veterans all looked at her in surprise, as if they were wondering when she had gotten there. "The ASA- how bad are these guys? I mean, they can't be that bad-" She faltered at the heated stares of the veterans.

"They're bad Allegra, very bad." Psymon growled.

"What did they do? You guys look angry enough to commit murder." Viggo asked.

Elise exhaled. "When Ormstead pioneered SSX three years back, he had just broken away from ASA. He was with them to help pay off a few of his debts, and give the circuit a kickstart."

"Raggedy as it was." Moby added, his accent thick.

Elise nodded. "First year was rough, we almost never had the money, support was thick and thin for while. Until-" She looked at Kaori with the ghost of a smile. "-Tricky Nishidake went big in Japan, and then support skyrocketed for me in Canada."

"Then the US of A went nuts over me and the kid." Zoe said, gesturing to Mac.

"My native France also gave much help." JP said lazily.

"Germany went big on Jurgen." Elise continued.

"And good ole England came through for me. They have rubbish for mountains. We had to tour in Scotland." Moby spoke up from his position on the couch.

"Long story short, we finally made our breakthrough, then things started to go wrong."

"Wrong how?" Nate asked.

"Boards we had kept good care of for months would suddenly snap, supplies would go missing, we started getting crap thrown at us during our practices. Somebody even tried to dope Moby's coffee so he wouldn't pass a drug test." Zoe said, her hands twitching in irritation.

"_What?!_" Allegra exclaimed, her jaw dropping. "How'd you know it was doped?"

Zoe snorted. "I knew it when Moby started talking about how my tattoos made me look like a dragon, and about how much he wanted to-"

Moby coughed very loudly, and slapped a hand over Zoe's growing smirk. "_Anyways_, we had to pretend that I had come down with something. Luckily, I have a rather adverse reaction to dopes, and we were able to trash to coffee before anyone else drank it."

"Damn, how'd you know it was ASA?" Allegra asked.

"Ormstead always suspected it might be them, and then we caught one in the act. One of their guys tried to throw a packed of ice at me when I was going up for a jump, and he got mobbed and beaten to a pulp by our loyal fans." Elise said, grinning wickedly. "We dragged him back to a lonely room and hit him a couple more times, until he finally fessed up that he had been sent by ASA to botch the circuit."

Allegra's face was the perfect picture of indignation and rage. "I assume they got thrown off the mountain?"

Zoe snorted. "Ormy tried to pin them down with a lawsuit, which nearly broke the damn circuit. He got absolutely wrecked with legal fees."

Mac spoke up, sounding depressed. "He couldn't even get the bastards on anything. We only had that guy we beat up as evidence, and he started hollering about how he had been tortured. The ASA assholes acted like they had never seen the guy in their lives."

"The judge threw the little saboteur in jail, and warned the ASA to keep their noses clean. For the rest of the year, they did. We didn't have anymore incidents until the Tricky craze." Eddie said listlessly.

All the rookies nodded, they didn't have to even ask what the Tricky craze was. The first year of SSX had swept up the snowboarding nation, but the Tricky craze knocked everyone off their feet. People who had never been interested in action sports in their lives had been drawn in. Big names had taken notice, and more money had flowed into the circuit.

"What happened during Tricky?" Griff asked.

"Many things, boards breaking, track markers being removed or switched up. For the most part, it was the same as the previous year." Marisol recounted.

"You forgot the smearing campaigns they tried to pull off." Luther rumbled.

"No way. They tried to sass you guys out?" Viggo asked in disbelief.

Mac laughed, and Kaori giggled. "Oh yeah, they _tried_." Mac said whilst trying to contain his laughter. "But Kaori here was a couple steps ahead. We got a few spamming, offensive, and anonymous emails, but Kaori managed to pull the actual email addresses of these guys, and then used them to sign up half the ASA to a gay dating site."

There was a general roar of laughter. Kaori flushed with a bit of embarrassment, but mostly because Mac had curled an arm about her slim waist.

There was then a small silence, but then Nate, who had seemed a bit itchy ever since he had gotten inside, spoke up. "Alright, who wants to go do some freeriding on Snow Jam? I want to check out that course."

"I'll go." Allegra said instantly.

"Me too." Grommet added.

Viggo mused, "I'd rather check out Orms new course. What did he call it again?"

"Geronimo." Zoe said. "I want to see it, it can't be as bad as Ormstead said it was."

"Go ahead Payne. Do me a favor, and break a leg on the way down." Elise said snarkily.

It was a clear sign that the rivalries had been remembered now. Their brief unity in the face of a common enemy, ASA, was now dissipated.

"You better hurry to the judges panel Riggs, so you can have a chance of winning the gold." Payne replied, her voice cold.

"I won't bother, Sauvegess is going to beat me to the punch anyways." Elise shot back, her voice carrying to Allegra.

The young American, already halfway out the door, turned like a rankled cat, flashed Elise the finger, and then left.

The rest of the riders wasted no time in dispersing. The majority left, grabbing coats and gloves as they went to go grab their boards.

Kaori turned to Mac, her scarlet snow jacket half on. "Where do you want to go?"

"Back up to Happiness, you said you liked the look of the ice tunnels up there, and there's a few sponsored challenges that I want to take a shot at."

She smiled shyly. "We just need to watch for the big snow-falls."

"The avalanches, yeah, I'll protect you Tricky, don't worry." A bit of redness entered his cheeks even as he said the words.

"Good!" Kaori chirped. "Let's go!"

**Snow Jam, Nate Logan**

"C'mon Nate! Let's just leave her behind! She'll be fine!" Griff pleaded.

Nate looked at him evenly. "No Grommet, we can't leave her behind."

He knew how dangerous the mountains could be. If Allegra didn't get back to them within the next 20 minutes, he was going to go look for her.

"There she is." Griff said, pointing at Allegra, who was coming down to their right.

She was wild-eyed, and her braid had come loose. "Don't go that way." She breathed, gesturing to the skinny trail she had emerged from. "Route is totally crap." She brushed pine needles off her silver and black jacket that had the DC logo on the shoulder. Her pants were a solid black, and of damn good quality, if they had come from DC.

"Did you mark it off or something?" Nate asked. "We don't want someone going down that way."

Allegra laughed. "What? You crazy? That'll be our little secret when the race comes." She grinned darkly. "Maybe I can trick Elise into that mess."

Nate growled under his breath, and started loosening his bindings.

"Hey, would you relax?" Allegra snapped. "That trail isn't enough to kill someone."

Nate retightened his bindings, and fixed Allegra with a stony glare. "Better not be."

"Or what? This whole _mountain_ is dangerous Nate, if someone dies it's definitely not my fault."

Nate went to reply, but he bit it back. He only glared at Allegra again, and turned his board so it was going back down the slope. "Let's go, we still got more to do."

Allegra shook her head, spat onto the snow, and followed in Griff's wake. They were only a quarter of the way down. So far, Nate was impressed with the course.

There were ramps, there were hidden trails, some good, some bad. Everywhere they looked, there were places for their fans, whether it be massive booths or tents. A few of the spectators were in the spots when the little group of three cruised by. They all had radios, doubtless they were listening to Atomika, and they all got loud when they caught sight of the SSX rookies. One woman, who looked like she was in her late 40s, grabbed hold of her shirt and lifted it to her shoulders, obviously for Nate's benefit. Allegra quickly got a gloved hand in front of Griff's eyes, turning his once-awestruck face into a one of bitter disappointment.

Nate made a gesture that could be translated as: _thank you, that's enough._ The woman obliged, and pulled her shirt back down. She blew a kiss at Nate as Allegra made a great show of gagging.

"Shut up." Nate said grudgingly.

"How long has it been like that?" Allegra asked, ceasing her teasing with a large grin.

"Ever since I got drafted." Nate muttered. "Don't tell a soul about this."

"Alright then Cougar Bait." Allegra said, barely holding in her laughter. "Not a word will escape my lips."

They went on it silence for a little longer, until Nate spotted a narrow trail off to the side of the course.

"Through here!" Nate shouted as he plunged down across the ice.

"Trying to avoid more of your fans?" Allegra asked as she struggled to keep her balance.

"You saw her, would you want to see something that hung that low?"

Allegra shuddered, "I was tempted to take my bra off and give it to her. She looked like she needed one."

"I doubt she's ever seen one. She'd probably try to put it on like a hat." Nate said, trying hard to contain his laughter.

Allegra giggled, and then fell as her board caught against a log. She was back up in a flash, but now several seconds behind Nate and Griff.

"Woah! She went down hard!" Griff exclaimed.

"She'll be fine! Focus Griff! This ice is getting worse!"

They eventually flew out of the flume down a slope packed with fresh, fluffy snow, that lead back to the smooth snow of the course. Once Griff and Nate reached the course again, they stopped to wait for Allegra, who they spotted quickly.

"Something's wrong." Nate said, even as they watched one of Allegra's feet slip off the board, and the young American went tumbling in a whirlwind of snow.

When she reached them, she was cussing a blue streak, adding to Griff's vocabulary.

"Calm down Al. What happened?"

"My damn binding broke." Allegra replied, scowling.

"How did you do that?" Nate asked, incredulous. "You just knocked your board against a log." He fished some spare bindings out of a pocket. "Here, use these for now."

Allegra muttered a thank you, and set about performing a temporary fix. It only took her about fifteen minutes, and then they were going again.

They handled the big drop before the trees with ease. They were professionals, after all. Nate and Griff took one of the better shortcuts while Allegra, with her busted binding, stayed on the main track.

Soon, they were passing the half mark, and the few fans there gave them a few cheers.

Allegra's binding made it past the gap over the rushing river, and to the finish. Several lines of tape and a fence blocked the entrance, so they went to the right, towards the lodge.

**Viggo Rolig, Geronimo**

"Uh, Zoe, it looks _just_ as bad as Ormstead said it was."

"Does it? Oh, wow."

"I knew this was a bad idea." Viggo muttered.

"Relax mate, we're going to have to race on this eventually." Moby said, as he carefully edged his way over to Viggo with Zoe right behind him.

Viggo looked back down at the near-vertical slope below him. It was fifty feet wide and looked like it was 500 feet long. At its end, the course was split into two paths a by spine of rock that erupted from the snow. The right looked faster to him, but the left seemed to have a myriad of trails that split away downslope.

"You know, Orms said he wanted to call this The Drop, but he felt Geronimo was better." Zoe chirped. She looked positively delighted at the prospect of diving down the slope that could easily be seen as an easy suicide to others.

There was a squawk of dismay above them, and Viggo had to move out of the way as Brodi tumbled down past him. The surfer quickly regained control fifteen feet below Viggo, and he looked back up at the Swede, grimancing. "Sorry."

Viggo brushed it off. He looked back up to see Seeiah and Marisol also studying the drop. No doubt they were trying to tell which route was the fastest.

"You guys ready to go?" Zoe asked. Moby grunted, and Viggo only nodded.

They pointed their boards downslope, and away they went. Viggo went fast, almost so fast that he lost control. He went to the left as Zoe and Moby went right.

"Woah!" The course abruptly ended in a wall of snow and stone. To his left were several small trails and a few rails that plunged into the forest. Picking a rail, he rode it until it ended at the lip of a steep slope. He didn't pause, but plunged downwards, praying that this wasn't a bad route.

It was not. Viggo came back out of the woods, back onto the proper course that twisted like a snake.

"Woah! Viggo! How'd you get so far ahead!" Zoe shouted from behind him.

Viggo twisted, and sure enough. Zoe and Moby were a ways behind him. He slowed so that they could catch up.

Looks like he had secret weapon come raceday.


	5. Snow Jammin, Part Two

**Hello again! Sorry for the change, I went over this chapter again, and found I had made too many mistakes for my liking. Again, here is the first race of the SSX Tournament, I hope you guys feel I did it justice. Read, enjoy, and please post a review. **

**Allegra Sauvegess, Green Station. Two days later.**

"Hey, Sauvegess, wake up."

Allegra muttered a protest, and rolled over, blanket clutched about her. Zoe smirked, and grabbed the small lump of snow she knew she would need. The roguish woman leaned forward, flipping a bit of blanket away from Allegra. Zoe moved quick, pressing the icy chunk of snow against the warmth of the younger woman's neck.

She shrieked, immediately trying to squirm away. Zoe leapt forward, jamming the snow down the back of Allegra's shirt.

"Damnit Payne! Why the hell would you do that?" Allegra exclaimed, wriggling until the snow dropped onto the blankets. Allegra wanted to smack her, but she didn't dare, Zoe was a hard hitter.

"To wake you up." She said simply, smirking.

Allegra grumbled. 'When's the race?"

"In two hours." Zoe replied. "Enough time for you to eat breakfast and get your gear ready."

Allegra rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Well, thanks."

"Yeah." Zoe snorted. "Don't get used to it, you wake yourself up from now on."

Allegra put her feet on the floor, cringing as she felt the cold. "I wonder who's going to win."

"Me."

Allegra made a skeptical expression. Zoe's eyes narrowed.

"You want to bet money on that?"

Allegra smirked cockily. "Sure, I like to get paid."

"100 bucks to whoever wins." Zoe replied.

Allegra frowned. "Between the two of us."

"Fine." Zoe said, looking disappointed.

**DJ Atomika, Snow Jam, Two hours later.**

"Syncing, syncing, and we are on." He muttered. He grabbed his mic.

Flocks of crowds filled the booths, the pavilions, and the shabby clearings reserved for the fans. They all buzzed with eagerness and excitement, waiting on the edge of a knife for the race to start.

Atomika cleared his throat, and it began.

"Welcome to the first round of the Snow Jam exhibition." The crowd roared and the riders tensed. "This is first event of the season, and we all hope it's going to be a good one. Looks like we got perfect attendance, all seventeen riders are here, ready to give it their all to take the gold."

He could see them all on his screens, veterans and rookies both, all getting ready.

"We got the first race coming in five, and the race with five riders, four of which go on. In that one, we got Zoe Payne, Moby Jones, Allegra Sauvegess, Nate Logan, and Marty Stieber. For your race commentary, we have Abigail Nelly for your listening pleasure."

They all shuffled forward to their gates, the rookies as well as the veterans were impassive, but Marty looked downcast. He didn't look happy that he was racing against two of the best and two fiery rookies.

The five minutes passed quickly. There was the countdown, and then they went, bursting from the gates and down the slope.

"This one goes out to Zoe Payne, here is the Deep End, Utah Saints remix." He punched the button that would patch him in to Nelly's smooth, accented race commentary that was only heard by the fans.

"It's Moby and Zoe out in front, the rookies close behi-" There was a large gasp from the crowd, with a few boos. "We have a knockdown! Looks like Allegra came off the worse for it! Nate out ahead of her, Sauvegess getting back up, she looks pissed! Marty has passed her, Nate is closing on the veterans. Allegra is fighting back up towards Marty. Moby has the edge on Zoe, he's about a few seconds ahead. Allegra has gotten past Marty. They are about a quarter way through now. Nate drawing level with Zoe-" There was another massive gasp. "We have another knockdown! Zoe actually swerving at Nate to knock him right over! This is turning into a bloody race!"

There was, of course, no blood on either Allegra or Nate. Nelly was an Englishwoman who occasionally fumbled when she got excited. But she made for a damn good announcer.

"What a way for the two rookies to start their careers. Both knocked down. Nate is getting back up, he better move, Allegra's gaining on him. Stieber is well behind. Moby and Zoe are still close." She paused, as nothing really was happening.

Then she started again. "Zoe and Moby are about halfway, the rookies are starting to draw even-" Again, there was another clamor. "Allegra's taking a swing at Nate! She wants revenge! Marty's gaining a bit of ground, and woah! Allegra goes down again! She's getting back up, Nate's speeding away. Zoe has passed Moby, Jones going for a shortcut."

Atomika switched to another camera that showed Moby diving down an icy flume and across a rail.

"Moby back ahead of Zoe, Nate still in third, Allegra still in fourth, she's putting a good distance between her and Stieber."

It remained that way for the rest of the race.

"And Allegra comes in, Stieber is now out of the running. And it seems that Nate and Allegra are having a bit of a disagreement."

That was an understatement, Allegra had gotten in Nate's face, howling mad and cussing up a storm. Security was going out to separate the two boarders, but they didn't need to bother. Allegra slammed the heel of her hand against Nate's chest and stalked off, scooping up her board as she went.

Atomika put himself back on. "Alright people, we got another race coming hot off the press in three, it's going to be Kaori, Mac, Griff, Viggo, JP, and Luther." He wondered who had made these races.

The countdown arrived before he knew it, he put the Caesars on the radio, and slapped the button to put Connolly on the horn.

"And they are off! The rookies not getting their space respected by JP or Luther. Mac and Kaori are out ahead, battling for first-"

Atomika snorted.

"The rookies are still getting mobbed, looks like some friction between the Swede and the Frenchman. Griff is out of Luther's reach."

Mac and Kaori went out ahead as JP and Luther continued to harass the rookies. Finally, Viggo wore through Arsenault's patience, and the Frenchman tried to upset Viggo's board.

"And Rolig goes down! JP moving towards Griff now, he wants to bring both rookies down."

Griff tried to evade, but with both Luther and JP hounding him, he soon went down as well. The crowd obviously didn't like JP and Luther both, booing them loudly.

"And the two rookies in danger of being knocked out of the running, Mac and Kaori still far out ahead."

It didn't change for the rest of the race.

"And that's Viggo and young Griff eliminated, knocked out in the first round, that has to be tough."

"Final race of the first round will be Elise, Psymon, Brodi, Eddie, Marisol, and Seeiah."

Atomika leaned back in his chair, put some more tunes on, and let Nelly have the show.

"Away from the gate they go, Elise in the lead with Marisol drawing even, this can't be good."

And it was not, Elise immediately tried to cut out Marisol's board, and Diez-Delgado went down.

"It's Elise with Psymon close behind, Eddie in third, Brodi cannot keep up. Marisol and Seeiah are in danger of being eliminated. Psymon passes Elise, no, she reeled him back in."

There were minor changes, but the race ended with Elise in first, Psymon in second, Brodi in third, Eddie in fourth, and Marisol and Seeiah were eliminated.

Now there was a thirty-minute interlude between the rounds, time enough for the riders to collect themselves. That too, passed in the blink of an eye.

"Get ready everyone, round two starts in five! We got Kaori, Allegra, Mac, Psymon, JP, and Luther on deck." Atomika boomed.

Five minutes passed, the six riders braced in their slots. The DJ put the Caesars on again, and punched the button as the countdown went green.

"There they go! It's Kaori, Mac and Allegra in a pack leading, JP and Luther are behind Psymon, those last three got a bad launch. JP and Luther closing on Psymon, they're obviously intending to take him out of this ra-" Another roar from the crowd.

"Wow, Sketchy has taken down Luther! And there goes JP! Allegra, Kaori, and Mac are still fighting for first, looks like Kaori has the edge, but her rival Psymon is coming up on the pack. Kaori and Mac go off the reservation, through the glass, Psymon's going out of bounds as well."

Atomika flipped through his cameras. Kaori had led Mac into a good shortcut, Psymon had blundered into a horrible one, Allegra had taken what was, most likely, the safest option.

"Kaori and Mac are way ahead now! I don't think Allegra is going to catch them, and Psymon has gotten bogged down in some terrible trail."

It did not alter much from there, Mac came in first, Kaori in second, Allegra in third. Psymon managed to make fourth, with Luther and JP straggling in afterward.

Next matchup was Elise, Zoe, Moby, Nate, Brodi, and Eddie. Seemed like it took no time at all. Zoe and Elise, surprisingly, did not exchange blows. Moby took first, with Elise coming in close behind him. Zoe beat Nate by seconds.

Final round. Elise, Zoe, Moby, Kaori, Mac, and Allegra.

Atomika put on Deepsky's "Ride" and gave the horn to Nelly.

"And there they go! The final round of the Snow Jam exhibition is underway! Looks like Elise and Allegra are exchanging some heat, here comes Zoe, and the Bombshell goes down! Looks like some contact between Moby and Mac, Mac nearly went down. It's Moby, Mac, and Kaori with Zoe and Allegra coming down fast. Elise is back up and moving with a vengeance." She paused. "Allegra and Zoe are among the pack now."

Another pause as the pack raced down the mountain, staying within a few seconds of each other. Elise got within sight of them, but was unable to catch them, until she went off the trail.

"And Elise comes out ahead of the pack! She's only a few seconds ahead of Moby and Mac, but this is only halfway. They're going through the trees now, Kaori, Allegra, and Zoe trying to catch back up."

Zoe suddenly went off into Out of Bounds, and Allegra followed. Atomika grinned, Zoe had good instincts, and Allegra was apparently sharp enough to follow the lead of the veteran.

"And the two come out even with Elise, looks like another slugfest!"

It was indeed, both Zoe and Allegra tried to cut Elise's board out from beneath her, but Elise managed to knock down Zoe. However, Allegra snagged Elise's board with her own, and all three women went down. Moby managed to jump it, but Mac wasn't so lucky. Zoe punched his board as he went over, making him lose his balance and go tumbling in the snow.

"And it's Moby leading with Kaori right behind him! Allegra claws her way away form the maelstrom. She's back up, and looking strong."

For the rest of the race, Mac, Zoe, and Elise tried to catch Allegra. But the Young American was racing with a lot of desperation and a lot of skill.

"Moby comes in first, Kaori in second, it's a dead heat between Elise and Allegra! And-" The crowd held its breath. "The American takes it!"

Zoe came in front of Mac, and Atomika leaned back in his chair as the three medalists dashed towards the podium.

If this was how the first race was, then he couldn't wait to see the rest of this tournament.


	6. If You're Not First

**I'm sorry for the delay guys, I was too busy on other projects and life stuff. Before I knew it, it was January. Anyways, I'll do my best about being regular. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Allegra Sauvegess, Snow Jam**

She barely remembered sprinting at the podium, barely remembered climbing onto the third, barely remembered as the medal was placed into her hand as the crowd roared. They allowed the champions to soak it all in before they gave the signal for the finalists to climb down.

They soon stumbled off the podium, and went to the back of the finish area to get to the Ospreys.

She greatly enjoyed Elise's scowl. Zoe gave her a slap on the ass with the muttered words of: "Damn good race Sauvegess."

Allegra met back up with Viggo, who looked exceptionally pissed that Luther and JP had knocked him out in the first round.

"They're both getting bloodied, very soon." Viggo snarled.

"Speaking of which." Allegra growled, as she caught sight of Nate. He had a hand on Elise's shoulder.

"Easy Tiger." Viggo cautioned. He placed a hand on Allegra's shoulder. "Save it for when they separate."

"Divide and conquer eh?"

The Swede made a face that looked like a snarl. "Exactly."

"Miss Sauvegess?"

They both whirled around to see a man in a suit, with fancy shoes and white gloves. He proffered a pale envelope to Allegra, without a word.

"The hell is this?" Allegra asked as she took the envelope. It was very swollen, and she could feel the familiar touch of dollar bills beneath the paper.

"Consider this a performance bonus from DC." He replied smoothly, grinning. He was young, very young, to be a representative from a company. His blonde, curly hair was rather short, but long enough that his bangs nearly reached his eyes. She was reminded of Eddie's "do", but this guy's hair was messier, more unkempt, and much closer to his head. His eyes were a curious blue-green mixture, and a light blonde beard was growing on his jaw.

"How old are you man?" Viggo asked, squinting at the DC rep. "14?"

Other guys might've been pissed, but his guy only grinned. "17." He corrected. 'I have been told I have a very young face."

Allegra shook her head, puzzled. "So you're a rep from DC?"

He laughed. "Nah, more of a messenger boy. I just want to stay close to the circuit is all."

"Hey, the fro is back!"

The "fro" turned and laughed as Eddie approached and the two exchanged a high five.

"How you been Hans?' Eddie asked, shooting Allegra and Viggo an amused glance.

"Hans?" Allegra queried. Judging from Viggo's apparent confusion, he didn't get it either.

Hans and Eddie exchanged a glance.

"Long story." Eddie said simply.

"We got time." Viggo replied, studying Hans intensely.

Hans shifted uncomfortably. "That's the name I always gave myself when I ran my ultramarathons."

"100 mile races." Eddie clarified.

Viggo and Allegra both looked at Hans like he was insane. He probably was. "A _hundred _miles?" The Young American exclaimed. "Are you crazy!"

Hans grinned. "Yeah, most runners are."

Allegra felt as if her brain was being tied into knots. Why would an ultrarunner be here on BIG Mountain? "Why are you a rep for a boarding company then?"

"I happen to enjoy snowboarding." Hans replied. "Especially if it's in the Appalachians."

Allegra wanted to ask more, but then something in Hans pocket buzzed. He studied his phone, and bit back a swear. "I gotta go, boss wants me elsewhere on the mountain." Hans nodded to Allegra, "Until we meet again, Miss Sauvegess." He nudged Eddie and the two walked away towards the Ospreys.

"What the hell?" Viggo exclaimed. "What's a runner doing on BIG Mountain?"

"I dunno, you think he's a trainee or something?" Allegra said, staring after Hans as he flashed her one last smile before ducking into an Osprey.

"No idea, let's head back to the lodge. I need a rest."

"Wuss." Allegra taunted. She scooped up her board and followed him as he went towards another bird.

"At least I don't eat caffeinated burritos." Viggo retorted, wrinkling his nose. "Those things are disgusting."

Allegra scoffed. "Idiot." She gave him a small push. "You never taste the things, you just eat them. It's like drinking Monster."

"You Americans are crazy." Viggo muttered. He flipped some hair out of his eyes. "Woah, what's up with that guy?"

Allegra turned to see some scurrying spook in a suit skittering across the back area. The man was slight and looked very fishy. As she watched, he knelt in front of an electrical set that Allegra knew connected to the screens out in the starting area, and started tinkering with the wires.

Every single member of the technical staff and the Ski Patrol all wore outfits of blue and silver, not suits.

ASA.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Viggo shouted. He had obviously come to the same conclusion that Allegra had. The spook took one look at the two SSX boarders, and he ran, dashing across the hard-packed snow.

For a second, they stood. Then they gave chase, both with boards still in hand. They saw the mousy man go round a corner that led to the small snow path away from the finishing area. Viggo was faster in getting after him.

The Swede paid for it. Allegra saw Viggo go down as the burly man waiting at the corner hit Viggo in the face. She practically howled with rage, and lunged at the guy with the first thing she could think to hit him with.

Her board.

Snowboards appeared a bit flimsy and lacking in weight, but in actuality, they were heavy, heavier than they looked at least.

So when Allegra swung her board at this guy's head, he staggered back as he grunted in pain. It gave Viggo time to get back up and get his fists up, small as they were.

"Allegra, go get security." Rolig growled, glaring at the man in front of him.

"No way in hell." Allegra replied, her board still hefted and ready to swing in her hands. "We'll kick his ass together."

Then the man grunted. "Oh shit!" He turned on his heel and ran. Allegra registered another running up behind her and Viggo, but all she cared about was braining the a-hole who had hit her friend in the face. She chased the brute, but he was in better shoes, and faster to boot. There was a roar of a snowmobile, and he jumped on the back. The snoop they had chased round the corner was driving, and he flipped Allegra, Viggo, and their helper the bird.

Allegra did the same, but with both hands.

"Uh, thanks?" Viggo said hesitantly.

"No problem." A rumbling voice answered.

As it turned out, it was Luther that had come to their aid; his massive stature was definitely enough to send the goon running.

"They were ASA, we saw the smaller douche trying to screw up some of the electronics." Allegra said breathlessly.

Luther's eyes narrowed. "Where?"

They guided him to the panel, and Dwayne-Grady knelt in front. After a moment, he yanked something from the wires and held it up to inspect it. To Allegra, it looked like a simple piece of plastic with two tiny metal hooks that were supposed to attach to the wires to keep it in place.

"Bug technology?" Viggo asked, so focused on the small device in Luther's hand that he messed up his English.

"What does that do?" Allegra asked, curious even though an enemy had placed the thing in Luther's hand.

"If I had to guess, I would say that it puts a scrambler signal through the wires, causing damage and making the screens go blank. He could've put even more of these things around here." Luther rumbled.

"We need to tell Ormstead about this." Viggo said. "He'd want to know that someone tried to sabotage Snow Jam."

"He gonna have to order a bug sweep as well." Luther grumbled. "He wouldn't want to be worrying about more of these things."

"Should we go tell him now?" Allegra queried, looking about the back area as if she expected another spook to come around a corner.

"Yes. The two of you should do it. I'll stay here in case the assholes return." Luther growled.

Neither Viggo nor Allegra wanted to argue. Viggo, it seemed, had forgotten his anger with Dwayne-Grady. They walked towards an idling Osprey, and told the pilot to take them straight to Ormstead.

**Nate, Metro City**

"Keep up Nate!" Griff shouted.

"Keep your shirt on!" He bellowed back, twisting his board so that he hit the next rail.

There was a cool laugh from beside him, and Elise whipped by on the thick parallel rail that ran beside the one he had chosen.

_Alright then_.

Nate put his head down, and accelerated downslope after her. Elise had hit a rough patch of snow, and she had slowed enough for him to catch back up at the turn.

They stayed close, very nearly running into each other, and they both pulled impressive tricks at the drop, showing each other moves neither had seen before.

"I can't see Griff anymore." Elise commented as they ghosted downslope. Nate couldn't tell if she was displeased about that or not.

"Marisol and Seeiah are farther downslope. They'll watch him if he gets to far."

Elise showed no anger at the mention of one of her enemies. Nate took that as a good sign.

"So why'd you do it?" Elise asked softly, almost demurely.

Nate was confused. "Do what?"

"Taking down Allegra, trying to take down Zoe. Why? They're not your enemies." She said, her voice barely louder than the _whish _of their boards going over the fresh snow.

"For the record, Zoe went after me, and Allegra doesn't play fair. She proved that a couple days ago." Nate growled.

"Bullshit." Elise laughed. She grinned at the look Nate gave her. "You've never played fair. Why would you go after someone else for not playing by the rules?"

"There _are _no rules, not in SSX." Nate muttered.

"Huh, is _that_ why you went after Allegra? Because that just makes no sense." She teased. Her gaze was flickering from the snow to him.

Nate didn't reply.

"So," She began, her voice vibrating with pleasure. "You took down Allegra because she doesn't play fair, when you don't follow the unwritten rules either? Or," Now she sounded downright sultry. "Did you bring her down to gain someone's favor?"

"I took her down because she left a bad trail unmarked." Nate lied.

Elise snorted. "None of the trails would kill someone. Not even close. They're meant to slow boarders down that are dumb enough to take the trail."

Nate grinned. "Allegra was dumb enough."

Elise laughed.

They spoke no more until they cleared the finishing area, and were in an Osprey heading for the Blue Station.

Nate grunted as he landed on one of the hard benches, Elise walked by him, her hips shaking, and bent over as she peered out of a window. He felt a tremendous pull on his gut, and he looked away to master himself. Elise turned and sat down on the bench opposite him.

She grinned shamelessly at him. "You know Nate, going after my enemies isn't enough to get my clothes off."

He smirked. "Then what is enough?"

"Oh, you'll see."

**Ormstead, the BIG Building.**

"What did he look like?" The tired director asked.

"Small, spookish. He looked like a rat with a toupee." Allegra said dismissively.

Viggo provided a better description. "Bout a meter and a half tall-"

"What?"

The Swede sighed in frustration."1.5 meters. Close to five feet, six inches. He had a stain of gray hair sort've all round his head. His big friend was much bigger. His biceps were the size of my head. He would've beaten us both down if Luther hadn't shown up."

Allegra spoke up again. "They were both in suits, and they drove away on a snowmobile. But it wasn't one of SSX's."

Ormstead sighed and leaned forward in his chair. They were all in his living room in his home on BIG Mountain. Allegra and Viggo both sat in chairs across from him as he sat on his couch.

"Then ASA is causing trouble again." He sighed, making Allegra and Viggo both perk up in alarm, even though they had been expecting it.

"What was that love? It's the ASA again?" Nelly said as she came from another room.

"Yes, Abigail, I fear it's them again." Ormstead sighed, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. Her hands went down to his shoulders, working the knots out.

Allegra's jaw dropped. "Hold up, you two are-?"

"Yep." Nelly replied, grinning broadly, not abashed in the slightest.

"How long?" Allegra demanded.

"A couple months now." Ormstead replied, a slight smile on his face. "But enough on that, we need to focus on ASA."

"What are we gonna do about it?" Allegra demanded.

"Same thing we did last year and the year before." Ormstead replied, looking very determined. "Abby, call the boarders up to the Green Station, we need to talk."


End file.
